Removing weeds from the crop plants

• The naturally grown unwanted or undesirable plants in the crop fields are called weeds.
• Weeds are harmful as they take more nutrients from the crop field. Weeds grow faster than crop plants by consuming more water and nutrients supplied for the crop.
• They also compete for space and sunlight. Therefore, weeds must be removed from the crop plants as they can affect the growth of the crop plants and reduce the yield from the crop. As weeds bear flowers and fruits earlier than crop plants, it is better to remove weeds before flowering stage.
• Removing weeds from the crop plants is called weeding.

Weeding can be done by two methods

1. Physical methods
2. Chemical methods

Physical Methods

1. Ploughing is one of the methods of weeding. Ploughing should be done before sowing seeds.
2. Removing weeds manually by cutting them close to the ground from time to time or by uprooting them with help of hand or a khurpi.
3. Seed drill is also used to uproot weeds.

Chemical Methods

When physical methods cannot be employed, weeding can done by spraying chemicals called weedicides.

Example: Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid.

The chemicals kill or stop the growth of weeds without damaging the crop plants. While spraying these weedicides, farmers have to take special care of themselves by covering their mouth and nose so that the chemicals cannot affect their health.